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The Eight Immortals (八仙 ba xian, in Chinese) are eight colourful Daoist personalities well-known in Chinese popular culture for over seven hundred years. 仙 (xian) in Chinese means ‘those who have achieved <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>, immortality, and enlightenment’ and their artistic characterisation in extant dates back as early as the 3rd-century BCE, as ‘a male figure riding on a dragon’. Xian immortals can live on air and dew, fly without wings, and are resistant to the harmful effects of the elements. They possess many desirable traits in human society such as being free from anxiety, acting with spontaneity, and even forever having skin as smooth as that of a baby.
The Eight Immortals represent a wide spectrum of the society: male and female, rich and privileged and poor and downtrodden, old and young. They are <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/zhongli-quan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zhongli Quan</a> (钟离权, or 汉钟离), <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/lv-dongbin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lv Dongbin</a> (吕洞宾, or Lü Dongbin), <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/cao-guojiu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cao Guojiu</a> (曹国舅), Han Xiangzi (韩湘子), He Xiangu (何仙姑), Lan Caihe (蓝采和), Li Tieguai (李铁拐), Zhang Guolao (张果老). Each of the Eight Immortals typically has specific emblems as his or her distinctive attribute. Zhongli Quan holds a fan or <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peach</a>. Lv Dongbin has a sword. Cao Guojiu carries a clapper of several long, flat pieces of wood, or an official’s writing tablet in court, hu (笏). Han Xiangzi plays a bamboo <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/xiao-shis-playing-the-xiao-flute-attracting-phoenixes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flute</a>. He Xian’gu, the only female among the eight, carries a stem of <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-he-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lotus flower</a> or a long-handled <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bamboo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bamboo </a>colander. Lan Caihe has a basket of flowers. Li Tieguai leans on his iron crutch with a <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/gourd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gourd </a>often in his hand. Zhang Guolao, the oldest among the eight, is usually identified with his membranophone fish drum (渔鼓 yugu). These emblems can be used independently in decoration as the ‘Covet Eight Immortals (暗八仙 an ba xian)’.

Eight Daoist Immortals

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When Prefect Mao Bao 毛宝 was stationed in the city of Wuchang 武昌, Hebei province, during the Jin dynasty (晋 265-420), there was a story about a white <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tortoise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tortoise </a>who repays its benefactor by saving his life.
One day, one of Mao Bao’s soldiers went to market for groceries and returned to the camp with an extra white tortoise. The tortoise was about four or five inches long and still young and vulnerable. So the soldier took the responsibility to feed it. When the tortoise grew to be too large to be living in a tub, the soldier set it free to the Yangtze River. Later, the army that the soldier belonged to was defeated in a battle. In despair, the soldier put on his full armour and threw himself into the river with his cleaver in the hand. Curiously, he found himself landed on a rock unhurt. To his amazement, it was none other than the very white-backed tortoise he had raised! Now it turned out to be a giant fellow, 6 to 7 feet long. The tortoise carried the solider to the east shore and he survived the enemy’s slaughter.
image identification and literature research by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a> 
Another story relating to ‘Repaying Gratitude’:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/the-dream-by-the-qiantang-river/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The dream by the Qiantang river</a>

White-backed tortoise repaying gratitude

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This scene was from a popular play ‘The Story of the White Hare’ (Bai Tu Ji 白兔记) and was much admired during the Ming dynasty.
Liu Zhiyuan 刘知远, the hero of the play set during the turbulent Five Dynasties (907–960), became an orphan when he was a teenager. His affluent neighbour looked after him and later married his daughter Li Sanniang 李三娘 to him. Unfortunately, his brother- and sister-in-law disliked him and maltreated the couple after their father passed away. The situation left Liu little choice but to seek his fortune in the army, leaving his pregnant wife behind. Sanniang suffered great misfortune in her husband’s absence, having to give birth to her son in the mill and name him Yaoqilang (咬脐郎 boy with the bitten belly button), because she severed the umbilical cord with her teeth. In order to escape her brother’s murder attempt, Sanniang had to send the boy to his father with the help of a friend. Fifteen years later, Liu, now a military governor, happened to be stationed near his home village. During a hunting trip, his son encountered the mother fetching water by a well while he was pursuing a white hare. The play naturally concluded with a happy ending!
This story scene on porcelain was first identified by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>.  
Reference:
Jeffrey P. Stamen, Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni, A Culture Revealed: Kangxi-Era Chinese Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection 文采卓然：潔蕊堂藏康熙盛世瓷, Bruges, 2017, cat. no. 9.

Story of the White Hare

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When Bing Ji (丙吉 d. 55 BCE) was a chancellor in the Han court, once he encountered the aftermath of a gang fight in the street. Bing Ji passed them without batting an eyelid. Further ahead, a buffalo passed and it looked out of breath. Bing Ji had its owner stopped and inquired about the buffalo’s heavy panting. Bing Ji’s aide thought Bing Ji paid no attention to the severe casualties but showed unwarranted interest in a panting buffalo. Bing Ji explained, ‘Curtailing gang fights are the police commissioner’s responsibility, not a chancellor’s. It is only spring now and the sun is quite mild but the buffalo was heavily panting. I wondered if there was something wrong with the climate that harmed the animal.’
Read more of Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>’s research work regarding this <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/a-statesmans-duty-to-his-country-a-chinese-story-depicted-on-traditional-artworks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">story scene here</a>. 
Other governors’ stories:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/chen-ping-dividing-meat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chen Ping Dividing Meat 陈平分肉</a>
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/seasoning-a-stew-with-sour-prunes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seasoning a Stew with Sour Prunes 调梅和羹</a>
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/night-revel-of-the-emperor-yang-of-the-sui-dynasty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Night Revel of the Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty 隋炀帝夜游西苑</a>

Bing Ji inquiring about a panting buffalo

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Bo Yi (or Boyi, 伯夷) and Shu Qi (or Shuqi, 叔齐) were sons of the ruler of Guzhu (孤竹), a vassal state of the Shang dynasty (商朝, 16th-11th cent. BCE). As the king was getting old, he wanted Shu Qi, his youngest son, to inherit his throne. However, when the father died, Shu Qi asked Bo Yi to take over the throne because he thought Bo Yi was the eldest brother and rightly deserved the position. Bo Yi declined the offer, saying that their father’s wishes should not be altered and then he left the country. Shu Qi followed and left the country, too. With their absence, another brother of theirs was enthroned.
While wandering along the coast of the North Sea, the two brothers heard that another vassal of Shang, the Zhou state, was an ideal place for a peaceful and quiet retired life and they set off to go there. When they arrived, the old ruler, Count of the Zhou had just passed away and his son enthroned himself as King Wu (武王) and posthumously gave his father the title of King Wen (文王). King Wu believed that he was the next person to have the mandate from Heaven to rule the Shang territories, instead of just being the Count of Zhou under the Shang.
With the veteran strategist the Grand Duke <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/jiang-ziya-was-discovered-angling-by-baron-of-zhou-by-the-wei-river/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jiang Ziya</a> (姜子牙, or Jiang Taigong 姜太公), King Wu was launching a military campaign to overthrow the Shang house, when the two brothers appeared in the middle of the road. They tried to stop King Wu’s army and admonished him, ‘Can it be called observing filial piety when one launches a military campaign before one has properly buried one’s diseased father? Can it be called a gentleman’s proper behaviour when a subject is to assassinate his lord?’ King Wu’s entourage then tried to kill the two but Grand Duke Jiang stopped them, saying, ‘They are righteous people.’ Then Mr Jiang helped the two move out of the way and the army marched on.
The story scene depicted on the famille verte Kangxi vase in the previous Jie Rui Tang Collection was first unveiled by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>. He has since published two more articles discussing the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/interesting-findings/bo-yi-and-shu-qi-stopping-the-zhou-army-analysis-of-traditional-chinese-figures-and-story-scenes-in-assisting-dating-of-antiques/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">figural composition</a> in such theme and <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/has-jiang-ziyas-mount-got-anything-to-do-with-the-pere-davids-deer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jiang Ziya’s riding</a> painted on the antique porcelain vases.
References:
<ol>
<li>倪亦斌：《武王子牙举旗伐商 伯夷叔齐叩马阻兵》，《读者欣赏》，兰州：读者出版传媒股份有限公司，2016-07，60-65 页</li>
<li>Jeffrey P. Stamen and Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni (2017), A Culture Revealed: Kangxi-Era Chinese Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection 文采卓然：潔蕊堂藏康熙盛世瓷, Jieruitang Publishing, Bruges, pp. 22-25.</li>
</ol>

Bo Yi and Shu Qi Trying to Stop the Mighty Zhou Army

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Cao Guojiu (曹国舅) is one of the later comers among the legendary <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/eight-daoist-immortals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eight Daoist Immortals</a> and has the fewest colourful stories attached to him. During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), a Daoist priest named Miao Shanshi (苗善時 fl. 1324) compiled a collection of anecdotes about <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/lv-dongbin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lv Dongbin</a> (吕洞宾, or Lü Dongbin) to promote his inner alchemical (内丹) teachings. The book is entitled the Chronicle of the Divine Transformations and Wondrous Powers of the Imperial Lord of Pure Yang (纯阳帝君神化妙通纪 Chunyang Dijun Shenhua Miaotongji). In Volume Three of the book, there is the story of ‘the religious conversion of Cao Guojiu (度曹国舅第十七化)’:
Cao was said to have been the son of a cabinet minister and an ‘Imperial Brother-in-Law (国舅)’ of Emperor Renzong (仁宗 1010–1063) of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). Even though he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he loved studying classics and enjoyed a simple life. The emperor treasured his friendship and knowledge and often had audience with him. One day, Cao decided to leave the capital and his home to travel around the world at his own free will. The emperor gave Cao a gold token to protect himself. The token bore the words: ‘Wherever the imperial brother-in-law goes, the emperor were there, too’. Cao started travelling, begging alms along the way. When he was crossing the Yellow River on a ferry, the boatman asked him to pay the fare. Cao said that he was a travelling Daoist priest and did not have any money. Then the boatman threatened to throw him out of the boat so he had to produce the gold token, the only valuable thing on him. When the passengers on the boat saw the words inscribed on the token, they all exclaimed ‘Your Majesty!’ in awe. At this moment, a Daoist priest in blue clothes on the boat said to Cao, ‘Now that you’re a Daoist priest, how could you throw your weight around to scare people?!’ Cao bowed to him humbly, saying ‘I don’t dare to, Sir’. He then threw the gold token into the river. The blue-attired Daoist asked Cao to return to the shore and, after they walked miles and settled down under a large tree, he asked Cao ‘Do you know Lv Dongbin?’ Cao replied, ‘As a mundane being, how could I know such a famous immortal?’ The blue-attired Daoist said ‘I am he. I am here to convert you.’ And the rest is history.
Ever since the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), Cao Guojiu has been prototypically depicted as a middle-aged mandarin dressed in official robes with a winged hat and a pair of black boots. His established emblem is a set of clappers, which consists of two or more elongated bamboo or wooden pieces. This emblem is also used in the decorative motif of the Covet Eight Immortals (暗八仙 an ba xian). Since the clappers are used as accompanying instruments on stage, Cao has long been regarded as the patron deity of actors.
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image identification and literature research by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>

Cao Guojiu

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The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival falls on the night of full moon in the eighth lunar month. Chang’e, the Moon Goddess, is usually associated with this family-union occasion, together with the festival food – the moon cake (月饼). A legend recorded in an ancient Chinese book, The Huainanzi (淮南子 The Discourses of the Huainan Masters), compiled around 139 BCE, says that a beautiful girl called Chang’e (嫦娥) has been living on the moon for thousands of years. Chang’e’s husband was the legendary archer, Hou Yi (or Houyi 后羿), and he was given the elixir of immortality by the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/interesting-findings/birthday-party-of-the-queen-mother-of-the-west/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queen Mother of the West</a> (西王母 Xiwangmu) for his merits. Out of boredom and curiosity, Chang’e tasted the elixir. As a result, she turned into an immortal. Her body became so light that she ascended to heaven, ending up in the nearest planet, the moon. On the moon, there was a huge <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/osmanthus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">osmanthus </a>tree, a toad, and a hare grinding the tree bark with a pestle in a mortar to prepare some magic cure. The adorable hare became Chang’e’s loyal companion. Chang’e also gradually evolved into the role of the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/the-legend-of-chang-e-the-moon-goddess-and-her-bestowing-osmanthus-blossom-to-scholars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">osmanthus sprig giver</a> from the Moon Palace.
In one of the earliest story scenes of Chang’e’s extraordinary feat, she has a human body and a <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dragon</a>’s rear end. The moon is marked by the toad in the middle. Both Chang’e and the moon are floating among vapour clouds and ball-like stars and planets. This stone carving was excavated from a Han-dynasty (202 BCE &#8211; 220 CE) tomb in the outskirts of Nanyang city, Henan province in 1964.
On a Tang-dynasty (618-907) bronze mirror in the collection of the <a href="https://www.npm.gov.tw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Palace Museum</a>, Taipei, Chang’e, her entourage, and specific environment attributes are fully displayed. Chang’e appears as a beautiful fairy in a silk gown with sashes flying around her body. The hare has his set of a pestle and a mortar beside him. On the right, there is the huge osmanthus tree, under which is the toad, symbolising the moon, the embodiment of the essence of the yin energy (阴精). The <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tortoise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tortoise </a>is a <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity </a>symbol in traditional China because they were believed to be able to live for a thousand years by the ancients. It was added to the scene as the knob of the mirror, since scenes involving immortals are often used as longevity symbols and thus birthday presents for elders.
During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Chang’e was still used to adorn daily utensils and display ornaments to imbue the environment with auspicious aura. The cute hare adds femininity to the design and therefore was popular in women’s inner chambers.
literature research by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>
Related symbolic motif:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/plucking-a-sprig-of-osmanthus-blossom-from-the-moon-palace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Plucking a Sprig of Osmanthus Blossom from the Moon Palace 蟾宫折桂</a>

Chang’e the Moon Goddess

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Young Chen Ping (陈平, ?–178 BCE), later a minister of Western Han dynasty, as being an exemplar of fairness in his everyday work. According to Sima Qian’s (司马迁, 145BCE &#8211; ?) famous work Historical Records – Prime Minister Chen’s Family (史记 &#8211; 陈丞相世家 ), one day, Chen Ping’s village held a ceremony to offer sacrifice to the Earth God. He was entrusted as the arbitrator to divide the meat offerings among attending villagers after the ceremony. As he divided the meat offerings in very even quantities, a village elder remarked that Chen was very impartial, to which he replied ‘Should I one day take rule of the land, I would rule it as impartially as I split the meat offerings.’
The story scene depicted in the centre of the Kangxi plate in the collection of the British Museum was first unveiled by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>. His article with historical pictorial and literary evidence is published <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/misinterpretation-of-chinese-paintings-chen-ping-dividing-meat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Chen Ping Dividing Meat

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This is a scene from a popular traditional play ‘A Set of Interlocking Stratagems (连环计)’.
The war lord Dong Zhuo (董卓, ? – 192 CE) became a senior minister in the Han court. His tendency to dominate the young sovereign, Emperor Xian of Han (汉献帝, 181–234 CE), gave other ministers cause for concern. They asked Wang Yun (王允), a high-ranking official, to devise a stratagem to get rid of Dong Zhuo in the interests of the state. Wang Yun was burdened with the task, with no appetite to eat and no desire to sleep. One evening, when Wang Yun was cudgeling his brains for a perfect plan on his way to the back garden, he suddenly saw his adopted daughter, Diao Chan (貂蝉), burning joss sticks (焚香) to pray for her lost fiancé Lv Bu (吕布, also Lü Bu), who had been separated from her during the war and had become one of Dong Zhuo’s right-hand men. Wang Yun’s face lit up and came up with a perfect plan. The following plot is represented on a series of late Ming to Qing dynasty porcelain wares.
He first invited Lv Bu to his house and reunited him with Diao Chan. On the next day, Wang Yun invited Dong Zhuo for a dinner at home with Diao Chan serving the food, knowing that Dong would drool over her and fall into his trap. Sure enough, Dong Zhuo immediately fell for Diao Chan and took her home on the spot. Then Wang Yun told Lv Bu that Dong Zhuo had married Diao Chan by force. Being Dong Zhuo’s subordinate, Lv Bu had to repress his jealousy and anger. Lv Bu had been tormented emotionally for days before he finally managed to meet with Diao Chan in the back garden of Dong&#8217;s residence. Dong Zhuo discovered Lv Bu’s absence and grew suspicious. He rushed back and saw the couple together. A wedge thus was lodged between Dong Zhuo and his first lieutenant Lv Bu, which eventually caused Dong’s downfall.
References:
<ul>
<li>Ni, Yibin (倪亦斌)《王允貂蝉合谋连环计，董卓吕布翻脸成仇敌》, Reader’s Taste《读者欣赏》 (October 2017): 114-119</li>
<li>Jeffrey P. Stamen and Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni (2017), A Culture Revealed: Kangxi-Era Chinese Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection 文采卓然：潔蕊堂藏康熙盛世瓷, Jieruitang Publishing, p. 28</li>
</ul>

Diao Chan Praying in front of Burning Incense

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‘Diao Mei He Geng 调梅和羹’ is a metaphor that likens the art of governing a country to the adequate seasoning of a stew with salt and sour prunes. The scene is often made up of a group of women or men surrounding a stove, on which a cauldron of food is being cooked, with an assistant holding a container with sour prunes.
In the Commentary of Zuo (左传 Zuo Zhuan), one of the oldest Chinese history books, written during the 4th century BCE, there is a famous passage in which the right method of preparing a perfectly seasoned stew is linked to the proper way of maintaining a harmonious relationship between the lord and his vassal. The statesman Yan Ying (晏婴 578-500 BCE) says to the Duke Jing of Qi (齐景公 Qi Jinggong, r. 547-490 BCE): ‘The cook blends the ingredients and balances them according to the right taste, adding whatever is lacking and negating whatever is excessive (宰夫和之，齐之以味；济其不及，以泄其过).’
From then on, the phrase 和羹 hegeng, ‘seasoning the stew’, or 调梅 diaomei, ‘seasoning the stew with sour prunes’, or 调鼎 tiaoding, ‘seasoning the food in the cauldron’, has been widely used to refer to the business of ‘governing the country’, or, specifically, ‘serving as the prime minister to the emperor’.
This classic pictorial allusion depicted in the centre of the Kangxi plates in the collections of the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art was first unveiled by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>. His research article on this topic is available <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/what-does-a-daily-life-scene-of-cooking-have-to-do-with-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
Examples of governors with good reputation:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/chen-ping-dividing-meat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chen Ping Dividing Meat 陈平分肉</a>
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/bing-ji-inquiring-about-a-panting-buffalo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bing Ji Inquiring about a Panting Buffalo 丙吉问牛喘</a>
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/the-boot-swapping-ceremony-for-the-departing-governor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Boot-Swapping Ceremony for the Departing Governor 民赞清官留旧靴</a>

Figures & Stories